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recycling

Yarn Salvage #3 – how best to use the yarn

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Yarn recycling is fun, rewarding and good for the planet! In my two earlier posts I gave you tips on garment selection and salvage. Yarn Salvage #3 – How best to use the yarn….. will give more advice on how to process the yarn you collect and the best way to use the yarn. You can see the earlier posts here Yarn Salvage Tips #1 and Yarn Salvage Tips #2

There are a number of different aspects to yarn that influence how you treat it and the type of project it is suited to. The three main aspects I will cover here are yarn weight, ply and content.

Yarn Weight – wpi

This is an important aspect of the yarn when it comes to determining the type of project you can use the yarn for. We measure Yarn Weight in ‘wraps per inch’. You can pay a lot of money for a gadget that works out the wpi for any yarn. It really isn’t difficult though and in my view not worth spending hard earned cash on! Wraps per inch is the number strands of yarn that will fit into one inch. The strands should sit next to each other comfortably. There should be no overlap or stretch.

To make your own gadget to measure wpi you need a pen, ruler and piece of wood – ideally something rounded like a broom handle. We use an old clothes peg 🙂

Take the ruler and place two marks on the wood one inch apart. Draw lines around the wood at the places you have marked. You are already ready to use the tool!

Take the yarn you want to assess and wrap it around the tool. Place the first strand of yarn just inside the first mark you made. Wind the yarn round the tool without stretching the yarn. Each strand of yarn should sit alongside the previous strand with no overlap. When the yarn wrapped around the tool reaches the second mark, stop winding. Count the number of wraps of yarn between the two markers. This is your wraps per inch for the yarn or wpi.

Yarn Ply

Ply is the number of individual strands that make up a yarn. Sometimes the strands are twisted so that the yarn handles as one strand. Sometimes you unravel a garment and find that the yarn is made up of several strands that have not been twisted. You can choose whether to separate out the strands or keep the yarn as multi-strand. What you choose to do will depend on the type of yarn and the type of project you want to use it for. I keep detailed records of recovered yarn. I write down the wpi and where the strands are not twisted, also note the ply. This gives me good information when planning projects.

Yarn content

The easiest way to identify the yarn content is to take the information from the garment label when you recover the yarn. I try to select garments with an element of natural fibre. When combining yarn in a project I try to match fibre types. This is not always possible. Yarn content will impact the way the yarn changes over time. It will also have a big impact on the way the yarn washes. If you have a project made from recycled yarn always wash on a wool/cool setting and dry flat. This is particularly important when combining more than one salvaged yarn.

Unravelled yarn often has a lot of ‘kinks’. When you crochet or knit with the yarn these kinks will disappear. If they bother you you can try to reduce them. I say ‘try’ because this method will produce varied results according to the yarn composition. The lower the percentage of natural fibre the less effective this method will be.

Flattening kinks in yarn containing natural fibres

Firstly, turn the yarn into hanks rather than balls. There are expensive machines that make this job easier but we are trying to save cash! You can wind yarn into hanks using your own arm winding the yarn between the base of your thumb and elbow. You can also use the back of a chair or enlist the help of a small human! I find small humans to be helpful and compliant until they hit teenage years. Teenagers are less than inspired by the idea of helping wind yarn 🙂

Once the yarn is in hanks soak them in warm water – NOT HOT (unless you want to end up with felt). You can add wool washing liquid or powder. The kinks should begin to relax in the water. You may have to leave the yarn soaking for a few hours. Rinse and dry the yarn either flat on a towel or hanging over a bath. Do not squeeze or ring out the yarn. Finally you will need to reball the yarn for use.

Using the recycled yarn

Now you have added all this recycled yarn to your stash what will you make? It is possible to use the yarn recovered from one garment to make another garment. However, it is likely that during the recovery process some yarn will have been lost. This means that you might need to top up the quantity of yarn from one garment in order to have enough to make another.

You can top up the recovered yarn with yarn from your stash. You could buy some yarn to contrast or compliment the recovered yarn. Or you could combine different yarns that you have recovered into one project.

Most patterns are designed for yarn of a particular weight or wpi as above. One of the latest patterns I wrote was for a super chunky yarn worked up on a 9mm hook. I wanted something that would grow and complete quickly! I decided to use this pattern as an example of how I work with recycled yarn.

Much of the yarn I salvage has a high wpi. This is because most yarn used in the industrial manufacture of garments is lightweight around 14 wpi. I prefer to work with a heavier yarn, aran or chunky weight around 7 or 8 wpi. However, you can combine the yarns you recover to produce a heavier weight yarn. This is what I did in my latest project. The resulting yarn can look startling different to its component parts.

Hearts and Stripes Recycled Blanket

Here is my recycled project. The pattern is one I designed myself and is available for free here. The yarns I used are different ply and composition but worked up very easily as one yarn. Remember to test the wpi of your combined yarn before starting the project. I expected the crochet to be difficult and that the yarn would split but this was not the case. Finishing off the ends was the only part that I found more difficult but with a little extra patience and care even that was not too much of a challenge. Here are the recycled yarns I started with.

Salvaged yarn

I combined the recycled yarn with some super chunky white yarn from my stash. This was left over from a previous project. As you can see the finished result looks quite different to the four yarns that went into the work.

yarn salvage - how best to use the yarn

There are many ways to choose yarn for your projects. For me, there is nothing better than laying out all the balls of recovered yarn on the floor and playing with the colour combinations. This is how I get inspiration for my next project. Group the yarn by colour and see what works! Happy recycling!!

Annie 🙂

Yarn salvage

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Hello, I am here to share my latest obsession!    Getting lots of yarn for very little money through yarn salvage and recycling…….. what’s not to like?!

This project started with me worrying about the cost of the yarn I am using to develop projects and patterns for the blog.   Even using cheaper yarns like my well loved Drops Paris, the cost mounts up when you are making a large blanket.   Crochet seems to ‘eat’ far more yarn than knitting, or is that just me?

I gave some thought to sources of cheap yarn and began to wonder about Charity shops/Thrift stores and yarn salvage.  

Yarn Salvage and recycle!

After a bit of research I can tell you that woollen/knitted garments typically cost between £2 and £5 in these outlets.   If the yarn could be salvaged that would be quite a lot of yarn for a very low cost.   One problem is that it is the wrong season currently with warmer temperatures shops are not selling much knitwear but we still managed to find some candidate garments.

I say we because I decided to rope my Mum into this project.   I remember from my childhood that she really enjoys undoing knots and taffles.   Turns out Mum also quite likes rummaging through Charity/Thrift shops for bargain items of knitwear!   A knitter herself for many years Mum understands the construction of garments.   This is a big help when choosing pieces for yarn salvage.

We are now some way into our project.    Mum has sourced some 15 garments and we have learned which types work best and the types to avoid.    Here are our tips for garment selection.

TOP TIPS for Garment Selection when Recycling yarn

1. Look at the washing label – that gives you the yarn type, % composition wool, acrylic etc.  This info is normally on the reverse of the label

2. Inspect the seams.  The shoulders will normally be overlocked (zigzag stitching over both joined edges on the inside of the seam).   This isn’t a problem but if you see this type of seam elsewhere on the garment this usually means the knitted fabric has been cut and joined which means there will be a break in the yarn on every row.   This gives very short lengths of yarn.   Avoid!

3. Unless you fall in love with a particular yarn, go for jumpers rather than jackets/cardigans.  Jumpers are normally easier to unpick.   Jackets and cardigans can be very difficult to deal with where the front band is attached and again are sometimes cut, resulting in short lengths of yarn.

4. Look at the texture.   Unravelling thicker yarn is generally easier than the finer ones.

5. Large garments often cost the same as smaller ones as pricing tends to be per garment.   The larger the garment the greater the quantity of yarn you can recover!

Read on for more tips on garment selection

6. Charity shops are seasonal.   Many will not display knitted garments in summer but it is always worth a look.   Lighter weight items will probably still be available.

7. One you have a stock, bear in mind the colours and weight of your yarns – look for items you can combine.

8. Shops have sales.    Even though these outlets are incredibly cheap to start with there are times when they discount.   There are also sometimes discount rails where items have been in store for a time and not sold.   Keep an eye out for sales!

9. Make sure you are looking in the right kind of shop.   Shops selling vintage or retro garments will be selecting stock based on the style and age of the garment and will be charging a much higher price than the average Charity Store.

10. Do not be put off by the style of a garment.   You will not be wearing it!  An item that is not attracting buyers in its current form might be made of very attractive yarn!

Recovering the yarn

We also learnt how best to recycle the yarn and to work out what to do with the yarn we recovered.   I will cover these in a later post.

The first few garments we bought are shown in the photos below.    When you start to take the garments apart you have to be very careful not to snip the yarn.   However, if you do snip the yarn in error it just gives shorter lengths or smaller balls which can still be used – depending on the project you select.

first garment for yarn salvage project
second garment for yarn salvage project
third garment for yarn salvage project

Yarn Salvage – Unpicking the garments

The first garment we unpicked was the flecked cardigan.   This one gave me the inspiration for a blanket project.    We picked creams and browns to go with it and unpicked the other two garments shown.    These photos show the quantity of balled yarn we ended up with.   More than 1kg of yarn for £6, not bad eh? On the subject of money a bit of small print I am obliged to share. Adverts and banners in this post are affiliate links. If you click on them I might receive a small payment which supports my blog and allows me to keep posting. Right – on to the interesting stuff. CHEAP YARN and free patterns!!

yarn salvage project - recycled yarn
yarn salvage project more recycled yarn
recycled yarn from yarn salvage project

The yarn is more or less Aran weight.   I will include more on how to identify the weight in the next post.   I used to have an obsession with knitting cabled sweaters so have a lot of oddments of plain aran yarn in my stash.    Some of the oddments were in similar colours to the yellow/orange flecks in the ‘inspiration’ yarn.   I put these oddments from my stash with the salvaged yarn to give me a large enough quantity to produce a blanket.

Yarn Salvage – Using the recycled yarn!

Next in my yarn salvage project, I came up with a block pattern that I can scale up and down to make three different sizes of square.   The pattern(s) are shown at the bottom of the post.    These are some of the blocks I have completed so far.

sample squares from salvaged yarn

Finally, turning this blanket into a whole family project, my husband designed a layout for the blocks.

blanket layout of different sizes of recycled yarn squares

Here are the patterns I am using for the three sizes of block.  I might need to amend these when it comes to stitching up if the weights of the yarn result in size differences.   I will either block them to the correct size or add additional rows to increase the size!   The change of colour instruction in these patterns shows you how I am working – you can change colour whenever you like or make the blocks solid colour.   It really depends on the yarn you have from your own yarn salvage project.

Instructions in UK terms – please SCROLL DOWN for US terms

Large Square – UK terms

1st round – make a magic loop, 2Ch, 9Dc slip stitch to join to the start point
2nd round – Ch3, 2Tr in each stitch, Tr, slip stitch to join to the start point
Change colour
3rd round – Ch2, Dc in each stitch (19), slip stitch to join to the start point
4th round – Ch3, 2xTr cluster, Ch1, (3Tr cluster Ch1)x 19. Slip stitch to join to the start point
5th round – Ch2, 3HTr, (2Tr, DTr, chain 3, DTr, 2Tr, 4HTr) x 3, 2Tr, DTr, chain 3, DTr, 2Tr, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
6th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
7th round – Ch2, Tr round 2Tr, 1Ch, 2Tr in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
8th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr 1Ch 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
9th round – Ch2, Tr round 2Tr, 1Ch, 2Tr in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
10th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
11th round – Ch2, Tr round 2Tr, 1Ch, 2Tr in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
12th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
13th round – Ch2, Tr round 2Tr, 1Ch, 2Tr in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
14th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
15th round – Ch2, Tr round 2Tr, 1Ch, 2Tr in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
16th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
17th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.

Medium sized square – UK terms

1st round – Make a magic loop, 2Ch, 9Dc slip stitch to join to the start point
2nd round – Ch3, 2Tr in each stitch, Tr, slip stitch to join to the start point
Change colour
3rd round – Ch2, Dc in each stitch (19), slip stitch to join to the start point
4th round – Ch3, 2xTr cluster, Ch1, (3Tr cluster Ch1)x 19. Slip stitch to join to the start point.
5th round – Ch2, 3HTr, (2Tr, DTr, chain 3, DTr, 2Tr, 4HTr) x 3, 2Tr, DTr, chain 3, DTr, 2Tr, slip stitch to join to the start point.
6th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
7th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
8th round – Ch2, Tr round 2Tr, 1Ch, 2Tr in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
9th round – Ch2, Htr round, 2HTr, 1Ch, 2HTr, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.

Small Square – UK terms

1st round – Make a magic loop, 3Ch, 15Tr, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
2nd round – Ch3, 2xTr cluster, Ch1, (3Tr cluster Ch1)x 15, slip stitch to join to the start point.
3rd round – Ch2, HTr, (2Tr, DTr, Ch3, DTr, 2Tr, 2HTr,) x 3,  2Tr, DTr, Ch3, DTr, 2Tr, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
4th round – Ch2 work Dc along each side, 2Dc, 2Ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.

Instructions in US terms – please SCROLL UP for UK terms

Large Square – US terms

1st round – make a magic loop, 2Ch, 9Sc slip stitch to join to the start point
2nd round – Ch3, 2Dc in each stitch, Dc, slip stitch to join to the start point
Change Colour
3rd round – Ch2, Sc in each stitch (19), slip stitch to join to the start point
4th round – Ch3, 2xDc cluster, ch1, (3Dc cluster ch1)x 19. Slip stitch to join to the start point
5th round – Ch2, 3Hdc, (2Dc, Tr, chain 3, Tr, 2Dc, 4Hdc) x 3, 2Dc, Tr, chain 3, Tr, 2Dc, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
6th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
7th round – Ch2, Dc round 2Dc, 1ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
8th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
9th round – Ch2, Dc round 2Dc, 1ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
10th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1Ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
11th round – Ch2, Dc round 2Dc, 1ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
12th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1Ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
13th round – Ch2, Dc round 2Dc, 1ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
14th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1Ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
15th round – Ch2, Dc round 2Dc, 1ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
16th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1Ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
17th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc 1Ch 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.

Medium sized square – US terms

1st round – Make a magic loop, 2Ch, 9Sc slip stitch to join to the start point
2nd round – Ch3, 2Dc in each stitch, Dc, slip stitch to join to the start point
Change colour
3rd round – Ch2, Sc in each stitch (19), slip stitch to join to the start point
4th round – Ch3, 2xDc cluster, ch1, (3Dc cluster Ch1)x 19. Slip stitch to join to the start point.
5th round – Ch2, 3HDc, (2Dc, Tr, chain 3, Tr, 2Dc, 4HDc) x 3, 2Dc, Tr, chain 3, Tr, 2Dc, slip stitch to join to the start point.
6th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc, 1Ch, 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
7th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc, 1Ch, 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
8th round – Ch2, Dc round 2Dc, 1Ch, 2Dc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.
9th round – Ch2, HDc round, 2HDc, 1Ch, 2HDc, in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.

 

Small Square – US terms

 

1st round – Make a magic loop, 3Ch, 15Dc, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
2nd round – Ch3, 2xDc cluster, Ch1, (3Dc cluster Ch1)x 15, slip stitch to join to the start point.
3rd round – Ch2, HDc, (2Dc, Tr, Ch3, Tr, 2Dc, 2HDc,) x 3,  2Dc, Tr, ch3, Tr, 2Dc, slip stitch to join to the start point.
Change colour
4th round – Ch2 work Sc along each side, 2Sc, 2Ch, 2Sc in each corner, slip stitch to join to the start point.

And that is it from me.   I hope you enjoy rooting around for knit wear to recycle and yarn salvage!   Please share your stories.    Happy crocheting!

Annie 🙂

Crochet blog – update #8

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Hello and SORRY – it has been a few weeks since my last post.    I was calling these ‘weekly’ updates but that just hasn’t been happening.    My day job has been REALLY busy for a few weeks but should be calming down now, so hopefully I will get to spend my weekends here again.

I have still been busy with my crochet projects on the train each day.    I have also been able to work on with my Hearts and Spots blanket in the evenings.  Although I don’t want to get my laptop out after a day in the office – I don’t mind a bit of crochet to wind down before bed.

Here are the latest views of the blanket.   I still have to tie in all the ends but it is all stitched together.  The border would be finished if I hadn’t run out of yarn!   The yarn order is in for just two more balls of Drops Paris to complete the project.   The patterns for the squares are on my blog, heart square pattern here and basic square pattern here.   I am not fully happy with the way they fit together so I will be tweaking them over the coming weeks.   I plan to put a smaller version of the blanket together as a kit so watch this space on that.

This project is waaay too big for the train now so I have been working on other things in the mornings and evenings.   I started work designing more blocks and produced a pentagon….  not terribly useful as they don’t tesselate or fit together easily.   I might turn out a pattern for a ball (think football/soccer) at some point using these and a hexagon or two 🙂  I will put the hexagon pattern up on here in case anyone finds it helpful for a five sided project!   I suppose you could just keep going round and make a pentagon shaped blanket.

My other project on the train has been a little bag.   I am quite pleased with this so far.   It looks a bit basic as it still needs handles, decoration.  I think I might include a lining.   Again I am thinking about putting this pattern together as a kit on Etsy but I will share the pattern for free on the blog as soon as I can get it written up.

I have been using a lighter weight yarn for these two projects, Drops Muskat.   Another winner from Drops as far as I am concerned.  This yarn again is incredible value and consistent quality.  I have yet to find a knot!  The yarn is 100% mercerized cotton with a lovely sheen and tight twist which means that it doesn’t split much if at all when being worked.   Easier if you want to be looking up from the work a bit!  I have been using a 4mm hook for this yarn which seems to work well.  The finished work has great stitch definition so would really show off complicated stitches.

Finally, a team project has started in my house.    It started with me worrying about the cost of yarn.   I began wondering whether it would be possible to get hold of some yarn very cheaply by buying old knitwear and dismantling garments to recover the yarn.   This is where my Mum came in and if I am honest has completely taken over!   A trawl of local charity/thrift shops turned up a number of candidate garments.    We got to work (carefully) with scissors, unpicking and balling and the results have been amazing.    I will put up a separate post on the process and results as I could fill pages with what we found and learned.   For this post, in summary, we have recovered a huge quantity of yarn so far for a tiny outlay.   My Mum is now unstoppable in her search for woollies to dismantle and I have started my first project using this recovered yarn!    I am trying to top up what we find with yarn from my stash but as it stands far more is going into my stash than is coming out!!

Here are some of the pics of the project using the recycled yarn.   The inspiration for the project was the first yarn we recovered – a soft brown boucle yarn flecked with yellow and orange.    I came up with a pattern for a block using a cluster stitch (another new one for me).    I will share the patterns in a separate post.

My husband loves drawing and designing and was once an engineer before moving on to other things so he likes a bit of geometry and maths.    I enlisted his help for this project as I was short on time.   He came up with this layout below which I really like – I think I will be asking him for designs more often!   Here is his sketch.

I have had a very exciting time with the blog this month.   One of my posts on pricing of handmade work seemed to catch attention out there and drove far more page views than I have had previously.   My income from ads ‘soared’ to £1.83 in one month 🙂 clearly still a long way to go to being financially secure!

That’s all from me for this post – I have promised a number of follow on posts and patterns so I had better get working!   Please get in touch either by leaving a comment or joining my mailing list.   I love hearing from you all.

Happy crocheting!

Annie 🙂